


lucky is a name for horses

by fangirlscribbles



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, M/M, it was fun to write tho!!, ya idk wtf this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 09:53:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16658957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlscribbles/pseuds/fangirlscribbles
Summary: When Ian went camping with Lip and his friends, the very last thing he expected to find was a boy with antlers. And yet, he doesn't only find one, he even befriends it. If you could call it that.





	lucky is a name for horses

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbeta'd! If you'd like to be my beta-reader, hit me up!!

When Ian went camping for an extended weekend with Lip and some of his college buddies, the last thing he'd expected to find was a boy with antlers. The first time he saw him, it was quite a bit from camp. They’d been sitting around the fire getting high, but honestly Lip’s friends got kind of annoying when they were high – except Joaquin, he was mostly okay – so he wanted to get away for a while. He lost all sense of time as he was walking and ended up way further from their campsite than he had anticipated. It was just so soothing, walking through the autumnal forest, breathing the crisp air, listening to the leaves crunch under his feet and watching the way they covered his shoes, all bright reds and yellows.

 

Then he looked up and there, not many meters in front of him, stood a boy. He looked like he was around Ian’s age, but quite a bit shorter. His hair was dark and his eyes were startlingly blue, even at this distance, but that wasn’t what caught Ian’s attention. No, what caught his attention were the antlers that stretched out from the top of the boy’s head, the same colour as his hair – and perhaps the fact that he was _very naked_ , miles of pale skin exposed to Ian’s eyes.  
  
Ian blinked in confusion, and when he opened his eyes again, the boy was gone. In his place stood a creature Ian guessed was some type of deer, even if he’d never seen anything like it before. It was rather small, and darker than Ian thought any deer could possibly get. Its horns were the same shape and size as those of the boy Ian had thought he’d seen.  
  
“Great.” He rubbed a hand across his face. “Now I’m hallucinating, too.”  
  
When he looked again, the deer was gone, having silently disappeared into the forest. Ian sighed to himself. At least deer were real things, no matter how odd-looking, unlike antlered boys.  
  
He returned to camp a little while later, when it was already starting to get a bit dark. Everyone except Lip had fucked off to their own tents for the night, which Ian was very grateful for.  
  
Of course, Lip had to give him shit for wandering off. He jumped up from his seat on the ground the second he laid eyes on Ian. He looked like he had been chain smoking, and okay, maybe Ian felt a little bit bad, but mostly he was just annoyed. It had been _a while_ since Ian was a child that warranted looking after like this.  
  
“Jesus, Ian.” He pulled Ian into a hug that was a little tighter than necessary, in Ian’s opinion. He returned it only half-heartedly. “I was just starting to wonder if I should call the cops.”  
  
“Just needed to get away from your dopey friends for a while. Jesus _fuck,_ they’re annoying.  
  
He decided not to say anything about the deer/boy/thing. Ian had enough on his plate without his brother deciding he was heading into another psychotic episode or becoming fucking schizophrenic or something.  
  
“Yeah, just tell me next time you’re going off somewhere, alright? And keep your phone on! I tried to call you like a hundred times, man.”  
  
“Yeah, whatever.” Ian waved his hand at Lip, already turning away. “I’m gonna retreat to my place. Night, Lip.”  
  
Lip just sighed loudly, and Ian pretended like he hadn’t heard. It was better that way.

 

 

 

The next morning, Ian woke up last of everyone there, by the sound of it. There were several voices talking loudly, the smell of something cooking, someone laughing. Amanda’s high-pitched excited screech over God only knows what. Ian sighed and turned onto his back, covering his eyes with his hand. Why had he even agreed to come on this trip? He hated everyone there except Lip, and Lip just got on his nerves lately anyway. Perhaps he’d go for an even longer walk today, starting immediately after breakfast, and keep his phone on Do Not Disturb just to piss Lip off.  
  
“Morning, brother,” Lip greeted as Ian emerged from his tent. He looked more cheerful than he had any right to be after they’d been on the verge of fighting last night. There was a chorus of greetings from Lip’s friends – aside from Joaquin and Amanda, there was a couple whose names Ian couldn’t be assed to remember – which were also ridiculously cheerful and grated on Ian’s already agitated nerves.  
  
He offered a lazy half-wave and veered into the treeline to take a piss. Just as he was finished and tucking himself back into his pants, a sudden movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. When he turned to look, it was the small, dark deer from yesterday. It seemed to freeze in place when Ian laid eyes on it, perhaps out of fear. The way its nostrils were flaring certainly made it seem like it was scared.  
  
Slowly, Ian lifted a hand and waved at the deer. “Hey, little guy,” he said, as softly as he could. “I remember you. Did you follow me back yesterday?”  
  
The deer didn’t move, and honestly, Ian was amazed. He thought it would’ve bolted by now for sure. He sighed and dropped his hand.  
  
“You should probably go. God knows what the others would do if they saw you… I don’t mean, like, they wouldn’t kill you or anything! But they can be pretty weird, so… And anyways, you’re kind of like my friend now, right? And I want to keep you to myself.”  
  
For a moment, Ian and the deer just stared at each other. It felt to Ian a little bit like the deer had understood what Ian said, but it also didn’t move, so he supposed that must’ve been a hallucination as well. He raised his hand again, this time waving it towards the deer in a _go away_ -motion, and now it did turn around and bolt.  
  
Ian watched it go, smiling a little to himself. It _did_ sort of feel like it was his friend, and it made him feel a little more at peace with the whole trip.  
  
Most of the day passed in a blur. Ian hung out with the others mostly because he knew there’d be hell to pay later if he didn’t, but he didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to them. They were speaking college bullshit, a lot of which Ian didn’t understand, and even more that he didn’t care about. Lip fucked Amanda at one point, and although they did try to be somewhat discreet, everyone knew. Joaquin questioned Ian about his relationships, and Ian evaded the questions as best he could, seeing as Joaquin was operating on the assumption that Ian was straight, and it was a little bit awkward.  
  
Sometime after lunch and about four joints, Ian deemed he’d spent enough time with Lip and his friends for it to be okay for him to leave.  
  
“Alright, I need to stretch my legs for a bit,” he said as he stood up and brushed off his jeans. “See you guys later.”  
  
“Later, Ian!” Amanda called, waving enthusiastically. Most of the others joined in, although way less enthusiastically, but Lip just quietly watched him go.  
  
Ian didn’t need to go at all far this time before he was joined by the dark deer. Pretty much as soon as they were out of sight from the camp, it just came right up to him and started walking beside him. Ian smiled brightly at him, feeling lighter than he had in what felt like forever.  
  
“You again, little fella? I should come up with a name for you if you’re gonna follow me around, shouldn’t I?”  
  
Ian wasn’t usually in the business of coming up with names for deer, or any kind of creature at all, and it was a lot harder than he’d thought it would be. Or maybe that was the weed. Or his meds. Probably both.  
  
“What about… Lucky? Huh, what do you say to that?”  
  
He looked down to his right, but to his surprise, the deer wasn’t there. A second later, Ian nearly had a heart attack when a voice behind him said, “Lucky? The fuck kinda name is that? That’s something you’d name a fucking horse, man.”  
  
Ian spun around so fast he nearly lost his balance and fell over, and there he was – the antlered boy from the day before. Just as dark-haired and blue-eyed, just as gloriously naked. Still very antlered. Ian squinted at him.  
  
“For the record,” the antlered boy continued, and Jesus, maybe Ian did need to be admitted to a psych ward, “my name is Mikhailo. If that’s too fucking hard for you to pronounce, don’t even try ‘cause you’ll just embarrass yourself. Sometimes I go by Mickey, that’ll be easier for you.”  
  
Ian closed his eyes. “I didn’t think deer would swear this much,” he said weakly. “Holy fuck, I think I need to sit down.”  
  
He didn’t open his eyes again until he was sitting steadily on the ground, cold and maybe a little damp seeping through his pants. He nearly jumped a mile out of skin, because Mikhailo- Mickey, had moved a whole lot closer, dead silent.  
  
“ _Fuck_!” Ian swore. He waved a hand at Mickey. “If this is gonna be, like, a _thing_ , you need to stop doing that.”  
  
Mickey laughed, and it was a very human sound. And very pleasant, Ian wasn’t going to deny it.  
  
“I can’t help it that humans have shit hearing,” Mickey said, and sat down next to Ian. The cold and damp didn’t seem to bother him a bit, but then again, the dude _was_ a deer. Ian couldn’t stop staring at him. The antlers looked so natural somehow, and that was exactly what made them so _un_ natural.  
  
“Be real with me,” Ian said, still staring at Mickey’s antlers rather than his face, “am I hallucinating?”  
  
Mickey was quiet until Ian moved his gaze to his face, and found him studying Ian’s face very intensely.  
  
“If you’re wondering if you’re crazy, the answer to that is probably yes.” Mickey made finger-guns at Ian, and Ian felt like he was on the verge of either hysterical laughter or equally hysterical sobbing. “But if you’re wondering if I’m real and not a figment of your hallucination, the answer to that is also yes.”

 

He paused, squinted a little, but his lip. “Do you want me to pinch you?”

 

At that, Ian did laugh, but there was only a hint of hysteria in it. “Nah, man, I think I’m good.”  
  
They fell silent, and Ian spent a good couple of minutes just staring at Mickey. Mickey let him, but he stared back just as intensely. Ian could almost feel his eyes on his face.

 

“So, like.” Ian waved an arm at Mickey’s general being, nearly clocking him in the face. “What the fuck, dude?”

 

Ian thought Mickey’s mouth twitched a little with what could’ve been a supressed grin, but it was hard to tell. Mostly it was just that Ian didn’t entirely trust his eyes anymore, no matter what Mickey said about being real. Ian would probably always doubt it.

 

“I was born as human as you,” Mickey said, and for a moment that seemed like all he was going to say. Then he turned his head a little on the side, and Ian snorted as he tried to hold back a laugh, because with Mickey’s antlers it looked like his head was going to just toppled right off his shoulders. Dude must have some serious neck muscles. “You have a cigarette? I haven’t had one in fucking years, man.”  
  
It took a moment for Ian to realize what Mickey had said, but then he frantically patted through his pockets. He found two crumpled cigarettes, without a case, in one of the front pockets on his jeans, and a lighter in his jacket pocket. Not saying a word, he lit one, took a drag, and then passed it to Mickey.

 

“The antlers didn’t start growing until I was, like, ten.” Mickey took a drag from the cigarette, blew smoke in Ian’s face. “But they were pretty small until I was like sixteen or something, so I didn’t have to come out and live here until then.”  
  
Ian nodded slowly. While Mickey spoke, his focus had shifted from Mickey’s antlers to his lips. They looked soft, like they’d be really nice to kiss.  
  
“Hey, why did you… like, reveal yourself to me?” Ian asked. “Isn’t that pretty dangerous for you? I mean. What if I killed you, or tried to catch you and sell you to a zoo or whatever.”

 

The slow down-then-up look Mickey gave Ian’s body, Ian was pretty sure he imagined. Even if this strange, swearing, smoking deer-boy might be real, there’s no way he’d be interested in Ian like that. Right? Right.

 

“Honestly?” Mickey took a frustratingly slow drag on the cigarette. “You’re pretty hot.”

 

Ian choked on his own saliva. Okay, apparently, he was wrong. He was suddenly _extremely aware_ that Mickey was very naked. Involuntarily, he took a quick look down Mickey’s body and okay, fuck, that was a mistake. Mickey was just sitting there, stark naked, with an erection, looking at Ian like he wanted to eat him.

 

Deer didn’t eat meat, right? But then, Mickey had said he was born “as human as Ian,” so maybe he wasn’t all that… deer-y? Would it be bestiality if Ian fucked him? Because right now, he was pretty tempted.

 

But then Mickey stubbed the cigarette out against the tree next to him before he dove at Ian, mouth first, and Ian could do nothing but frantically kiss him back and help Mickey get Ian out of his jacket. Ian yelped when Mickey put his hands up under his shirt, because while it felt amazing, they were cold as fuck.

 

“No, no,” Ian breathed when Mickey started to pull them back, grabbing his wrists. “I like it.”

 

Mickey made a small noise against Ian’s mouth and moved to straddle Ian’s lap, pressing closer. “Fuck.” He rutted just a little against Ian’s bulge, and Ian thought that that couldn’t be comfortable, bare skin against the roughness of his jeans, but he wasn’t complaining. “Fuck, you should get naked, now.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Mickey stood up and pulled Ian with him, frantically working at the button and zipper of Ian’s jeans. As soon as he got them open, Ian pulled them down along with his boxers. He’d forgotten about his shoes until he nearly fell over when he tried to press Mickey against the closest tree, but Mickey helped him awkwardly shuffle along until they were right where they wanted to be.

 

Mickey hooked a leg around Ian’s waist, his other leg following suit as Ian hoisted him up.

 

“Fuck, you’re so hot,” Mickey murmured, pushing his fingers into Ian’s mouth, “like a fucking lumberjack or some shit- all those muscles.”

 

Ian laughed breathily around Mickey’s fingers. “Lumberjack, yeah, sure.” _If that’s what gets you off_. He stopped talking, or thinking for that matter, to watch Mickey’s face in awe as he put his spit-slicked fingers to use stretching himself.

 

It wasn’t long until Mickey deemed himself ready, and put his hand back on Ian’s shoulder, squeezing his hips with his thighs impatiently.

 

“Get the fuck in me,” he said, and Ian was all too happy to comply. “Yeah, oh, fuck, you’re big.”

 

“Want me to stop?”

_Please, please, say no._

 

“No, ah, fuck—I love it.”

 

From that point on, there was no talking. There were biting kisses, a hickey or two sucked into Mickey’s neck, scratches down Ian’s back, Mickey’s keening moans that Ian just couldn’t get enough of, and then it was over too soon as Mickey’s body seized up around Ian and he came across their stomachs, Ian following shortly after.

 

After a few moments, Ian slowly collapsed to the forest floor, Mickey holding on and following him down until they were a heap of sweaty limbs and sticky skin. Ian laughed breathily, a little amazed and a little weirded out.

 

“I just had sex,” he paused to try and control his laughter, “with a dude with antlers.”

 

Mickey, his head on Ian’s shoulder, just hummed. “It was some great sex, though, _man_.”

 

Ian just laughed harder. “As if that doesn’t make it weirder!” He held onto Mickey tighter as he shook with laughter, closing his eyes to try to calm himself.

 

Then he actually panicked. “Holy shit, did I just break the law?” He gestured wildly with his hands between himself and Mickey. “Does this count as bestiality? Am I one of _those_ people now?”

 

Mickey lifted his head from Ian’s shoulder and looked at him, eyebrows nearly at his hairline. “Shut the fuck up.” He fumbled around Ian’s half-worn jeans, digging out the other cigarette and the lighter after a confused minute. “This does not count as bestiality, excuse the fuck outta you.”

 

Even if he wasn’t entirely sure he believed it, it did feel a little better to hear Mickey say that. And, to be fair, he _was_ acting very human-like right now.

 

They shared the second cigarette between them and, once it had gone the same way as the first, untangled themselves from each other and Ian got dressed. There was an awkward moment then, where they just looked at each other and neither knew what to say. Ian couldn’t help but let his gaze wander up to the small, black antlers on top of Mickey’s head.

 

“Would you feel anything if I touched them?” Ian asked, suddenly finding himself with a desire to do so.

 

Mickey shrugged. “Not really.” He turned his head to look away from Ian, pulling at his bottom lip with his teeth. “Why, you wanna?”

 

“Yes.” _Fuck, that was too fast_. “No. I mean… kinda?”

 

It looked like Mickey was trying _really hard_ not to grin, but Ian didn’t know him well enough yet to trust his judgement. Mickey taking a step forward and leaning his head down just a little was, however, pretty clear, and Ian slowly brought a hand up towards his antlers.

 

He paused with his hand a few centimetres from them, suddenly nervous, but then thought _fuck it_ and moved his fingers that last bit. They were just as rough to the touch as Ian had expected from the close-up look of them, but a lot warmer. It was just a little bit mesmerizing. He didn’t even realize he’d been quietly stroking them for longer than he probably should have until Mickey made a small, impatient movement with his neck.

 

“What are they for, anyway?” Ian asked when they were once again just standing there, looking at each other. He didn’t know what to with his hands now that they were no longer touching Mickey’s antlers. “Like, do they just sit there and look pretty, or do they _do_ something?”  
  
Mickey gave him something Ian had started to think of as a sarcastic look; eyebrows up to his hair, mouth open, face tilted slightly forward so he was looking up at Ian even more than usual. Then he moved his head back to a neutral position and grinned at Ian, just a little bit dirty-looking.

 

“Nah, mostly they’re for sexually attracting others. They don’t really do anything.”

 

Ian choked on the breath he’d just inhaled, and Mickey’s unholy grin grew wider.

 

“Well…” he eyed Ian up and down, eyes snagging a little on the messy state of Ian’s clothes and hair. “Did it work?”

 

Ian laughed and, because he was weak, took half a step towards Mickey. His intention was to kiss him, but then he realized maybe Mickey didn’t want him to.

 

“Yeah,” he said quietly, voice a little bit hoarse, “yeah it worked.”

 

Rolling his eyes, Mickey reached for Ian’s waist and drew him into a kiss. Ian thought he might be a little bit in love, and he didn’t even care that it may be with a figment of his imagination.

 

 

 

The day after, Ian awoke with a grin. It only grew wider as he rolled over and laid eyes on Mickey, sleeping with his mouth open, hair sticking out in every direction. He’d sneaked into the camp in deer form last night and changed back only once he was in Ian’s tent. Ian would’ve liked to see the change, as he was harbouring an intense curiosity about how it looked, but Mickey had made him cover his eyes. He’d said it would freak Ian out, and Ian had quietly thought he was probably right. The whole thing was freaking him out, because he _still_ wasn’t certain that Mickey wasn’t made up, even after they’d had sex again, in the tent this time. When Ian stretched, he could feel his back sting where Mickey had scratched him.

 

Turning to watch Mickey again, propping his head up on his elbow, he couldn’t resist reaching out to touch his antlers. The movement, or perhaps the nearness of Ian’s hand, made Mickey stir just a little, letting out a sigh that Ian thought was positively adorable. _God_ , he needed to get his shit together.

 

Even as he heard the others start to wake up outside, Ian kept mindlessly stroking Mickey’s antlers, moving closer and closer to the base of them without really thinking of it. He was completely fascinated. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he reached the base of Mickey’s antlers, where they were buried in hair and met his skull, and Mickey let out a little moan.

 

“Mm, feels good,” Mickey murmured sleepily as Ian experimentally massaged the base of his antlers with his fingertips.

 

“Yeah?” He grinned at Mickey as he opened his eyes, training unbelievably blue eyes on Ian. He looked sleepy but pleased, reminding Ian a little of a cat. “You’ll need to be quiet, though.”

 

Mickey snorted as he put his hands on Ian’s shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss. “Can’t make any promises.”

 

Ian ended up having to hold a hand across Mickey’s mouth and keep his own mouth firmly locked over Mickey’s shoulder to keep them both quiet. It was absolutely worth it.

 

After, as they lay side-by-side, covered in sweat and cum, panting like they’d just run a marathon, they advised a game plan: Ian would put on some clothes and leave the tent, say good morning to the others and sneak off for a piss, as had become his custom during the trip. He’d leave the tent open just a bit, so Mickey could see what was going on outside. Mickey would change back into a deer and sneak out while Ian went back to keep the others distracted. As plans went, it wasn’t the best, but it also wasn’t the worst.

 

“I mean, the worst that can happen is they think I’m a freak for keeping a deer in my tent,” Ian said. Mickey just rolled his eyes and waved at him to go.

 

It went surprisingly smoothly, and a couple of hours later, Ian was back on the same path as the day before, Mickey walking by his side. He was wearing a pair of Ian’s pants now, but he’d refused the shirt Ian had brought as well. The only reason he’d even accepted he pants was because Ian insisted he couldn’t deal with both the antlers _and_ the nakedness. It was simply too distracting.

 

“So, living out here and all, I assume you don’t have a phone?” Ian asked after a while, but he couldn’t help feeling hopeful.

 

Mickey threw his head back and laughed and, by the gods, he was beautiful.

 

“You assume correctly.”

 

Ian’s face fell. “Well. Can I give you my number anyway, just in case? Like, if you ever get a hold of one and, uh, maybe want to see me again?”

 

Mickey just looked at him. His face was blank, but Ian could tell he was confused. He shrugged, smiled a little. “I’m leaving tomorrow, and I have no idea when or if I’ll be able to come back, so…”

 

“Oh.” Mickey’s face stayed carefully blank, but he did not have the same control over his voice, and he sounded disappointed. It warmed Ian’s heart a little, if he was honest. “Yeah, sure, man. Just give me a note with it or something.”

 

“You got somewhere to keep it where you won’t lose it?”

 

Mickey rolled his eyes. “Yeah, man. I’m not just. Wandering around naked _all_ the time.”

 

Ian raised an eyebrow, smirking a little at Mickey. If he wasn’t completely mistaken, there was even a bit of a flush working its way up Mickey’s neck.

 

“Oh, really? How come you’ve been naked the entire time I’ve been here, then?”

 

Mickey didn’t reply, but that was definitely a blush on his face now.

 

They spent the rest of the day wandering around the forest, sharing cigarettes, talking, making out. They had sex on a bed of fallen leaves, which Ian thought was equal parts romantic and disgusting, because while it was beautiful, he was also fairly certain he’d crushed at least three bugs under his knee. Mickey showed Ian his favourite spots, which was definitely both romantic and incredibly sweet. Not that he mentioned this to Mickey, because he was fairly certain he would’ve clocked him in the jaw.

 

When the time came for them to part that evening, after about four frantic voice mails and more texts than Ian could count from Lip, Ian pressed Mickey against a tree and kissed him deeply, slowly, until they were both breathing heavily.

 

“You know,” Ian murmured against Mickey’s mouth, tongue darting out to lick along a lip, “I’m going to miss you.”

 

Mickey punched him lightly in the chest. “Guess you’d better come visit then, Lover Boy.”

 

When Ian kissed him again, he was grinning so wide he could barely kiss.

 

“Yeah. Goodbye, Mickey.”

 

He was fairly certain that Mickey stayed to watch him go until he was out of sight, but he didn’t turn around to look.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [tumblr](http://mickeymousevich.tumblr.com) i will love u forever!!


End file.
